ALBANY -- While one arm of the sprawling business and political empire of two conservative Oklahoma oil billionaires is blasting New York's participation in a program to cut greenhouse gases, another arm is seeking profit from it.

Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political action group supported by oilmen David and Charles Koch, gathered angry protesters Wednesday in Manhattan to demand New York and New Jersey leave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state program in the Northeast to cut emissions from power plants.

At the rally outside RGGI's offices, AFP New Jersey State Director Steve Lonegan blasted the two-year-old program as "sketchy, shadowy, clandestine and top-secret" to a booing crowd of AFP supporters, some waving the yellow Gadsden flag ("Don't tread on me") popular with the Tea Party movement.

Lonegan said RGGI, a cap-and-trade auction system for credits needed by power plants to cover emissions of carbon dioxide, kills jobs and makes electrical rates skyrocket.

RGGI records show another Koch affiliate has taken part in at least three of the nine credit auctions -- including the Wednesday auction that AFP protested as secretive.

Records show Koch Supply and Trading of Wichita, Okla., also was registered for RGGI auctions in December 2009 and March 2010.

"Koch has participated in the RGGI market since its inception," said spokeswoman Katie Stavinoha on Friday. "We will not turn our backs on incentives available to our competitors."

The trading company is a wholly-owned affiliate of petrochemical giant Koch Industries, which is owned by the two brothers. David Koch is chairman of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and founded Americans for Prosperity with his brother.

One environmental group suggested the Kochs were playing both sides of the fence.

"I bet David Koch's investors would be surprised to learn he's bankrolling activists out to undermine one of his core businesses, Koch Supply & Trading," said Erica Ringewald, spokeswoman for Environmental Advocates of New York, an Albany-based lobbying group that supports RGGI. "And I bet the folks at the Americans for Prosperity Foundation would be dismayed to learn the chairman of their board has been profiting off of cap-and-trade."

Lonegan did not return a call for comment.

The Koch brothers have spent millions of dollars in recent years to dispute the scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels are responsible for ongoing climate change. They also fund various groups connected to the Tea Party movement, which last year galvanized conservatives to oppose health care reform and now backs candidates nationwide in Republican primaries.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki, a Republican, spearheaded RGGI starting in 2005. Pataki now heads an effort to repeal health care reform, and in a recent interview, called David Koch a patriot.

Under RGGI, states cap power plant CO2 emissions through 2014, and cut emissions by 10 percent by 2018. States periodically auction off credits required to cover emissions.

Credits can be traded like any commodity, so companies that reduce emissions can sell unused credits to less-efficient plants. Groups that do not own power plants in New York, like Koch, can buy and sell credits in a bid for profit.

So far, RGGI states have raised about $660 million from auctions, and invested the funds in energy efficiency, home weatherization and other programs to reduce electrical consumption.